Need help, I'm stuck at the gate. Here is what I am trying to do.

1. Replace front 6.5 inch with DB651s's
2. Do the front/rear channel swap
3. Add 8 inch Boss Audio powered amp

and that's it. I'll gladly live with the oem 4 inch and 6x9s.

I realize this is simple stuff for most but pretty challenging for me and I am having trouble with the mimimalistic nature of the DIY in the first post of this excellent thread:

FRONT:
1- pull the little plastic pin from the bottom side of the door handle and remove it. Okay, already lost me, when you say remove "it" is "it" the pin?, the door handle trim? I removed the pin but not the door handle cover because it wont budge.
2- pull on the lower and inner edge of the door panel and work your way around it popping it loose from the door frame.
That's where im pulling, but no snapping so far, and again, is all I have out before pulling here the little pin or was I supposed to remove the plastic door handle trim first, how about the speaker covers? Do they need to come off first before the door panel?


3- "get that round speaker shroud off by gentling prying from the bottom until you can get a grip of the underside edge. "

(dammit, now I cant even get the bold to work right)

I'm not trying to replace the 4inch speaker, do I still need to remove the 4inch cover?


4-remove both the upper and lower speakers

If I ever get to this part I think I can handle unscrewing the 6.5 but getting the new one wired not so sure. I don't have any solder, certainly no silver solder. I was planning on just cutting the old connectors of, stripping some of the wire, twisting it good on the new speaker connector tabs and wrapping with electrical tape, aside from being crude and messy, is there any reason this wont suffice?



So far I have the magic pin out, that's it This is the first time I'm trying to take the door panel off and feel like I'm going to break something with how hard I am pulling the panel but no luck popping the pins. And I have to say I'm dizzy from reading the 20 something pages here and another 20 something in the channel swap and then several hundred more in the Boss Audio thread.


anyone available for a phone consult? If so please PM me and I'll give you my phone number or you can give me yours.

In addition I certainly would be very open to paying someone who has done this before for their time if they happen to live close to me an could come by to help. You can pretty much name your price, I'm despirate here

Any help really appreciated.

 

Hey--

sent you a PM with my phone number.

Try the PASSENGER door first -- it doesn't have the mirror switch to confuse things. EVERYONE is worried about pulling too hard, breaking something the first time. You have to pull hard enough to pop the clips loose, pulling the trim an inch or two away from the door.

If you're good with hand tools, and good at soldering, you'll have no problems.

If you aren't good at soldering, you're doing the right thing looking for help!

Cheers from rainy Silicon Valley--

 

Where are you in SoCal? LA, Orange County, San Diego?

I can help for free depending on where you are (you would have to drive to my house, and today's not a good day with the rain). You would be doing the work, and I will advise and coach

 

Hey, I might take you up on that. I'm in the San Gabriel Valley in LA County. I am making some progress on the speaker swap though. One issue with the Polkaudio db651s is the speaker mounting holes are actually smaller than the plastic door cutout so at most I will be able to get 3 screws and they are all on one side. Hopefully with the provided gasket it will hold tight enough to not rattle.

Well, back to work

 

I'm a good 120 miles away so unless you really get stuck you are better slugging away at it (I'm near the San Diego Wild Animal Park).

My Polk speakers didn't line up with all the holes either, so I used the holes that lined up (don't remember if it was more than one or only one), and then drilled a much smaller hole than the original screw and slowly and not too tightly screwed the screw into the hole letting the screw cut threads into the plastic. Just don't overtighten when it gets tight or you will strip your screwthreads in the plastic. If you do mess up a hole, you can tale your screws out, rotate the speaker, drill new holes, and try again.

I've had my Polk speakers installed using this technique for over a year now with no rattles or issues.

 

Victory is mine

Got the fronts in, took most of the day but I took my time and had to jerry-rig a few steps. It seems everything is the same for the R55 and R56 with the possible exception of the size of the 6.5 speaker cut-out. The problem isn't that the holes dont line up, that much I expected, but the real issue is the holes on the polkaudio have a diameter from hole to (trans) hole smaller than the cut-out, so when you drill one new hole in the plastic there is no way to use the 180 degree partner hole because there is no plastic under it. I had to shift the speaker way over to one side and use 3 holes all on one side. I actually have a picture and you can see the speaker not centered under the cover.

As far as the connection, I didnt have any solder so what I ended up doing is cutting up the plastic connector to get the + and -wire with the metal clips still attached. I then slid the clips onto the tabs on the speakers and taped then together so they (hopefully) wont fall off. I attached a couple of pics.

A big thanks to K6rtm for all his great info on the forum and letting me call him and pick his brain. The most important help he gave me was giving me the courage to pull hard enough (feels like you will break something) to get the door panel off.

Here's a few pics:

My helper (moral support only)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2710/...905d113f_b.jpg

Picture of the speaker wires after going medieval on the plug.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...a4d310a1_b.jpg

Speaker installed off center (no other choice)
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/...63701614_b.jpg

Tape on the clip points on door panel
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/...e8565f13_b.jpg

My reward
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/...fa9933ea_b.jpg

 

Congratulations!

Do the rear speakers! You'll be happy you did, and even though they are a PITA, you only have to do it once!

--bob

 

It's a shame I didn't understand fully what you were going to do on the wire hookups to the speakers. stripping the wire and crimping on some female spade connectors is what I would have advised....gets you around the solder jamb. How does it sound?

 

Yeah, that probably would have made more sense than what I did, but it is working and it sounds quite a bit better already. I will do the front rear channel swap and powered sub next and see if that holds me, otherwise its the dreaed rear 6x9 replacement

 

Has anyone fitted anything like the CDT ES-06+ 6.5" speaker in the rear of the mini where teh 6x9 is located?

I was looking into 6x9 subs but most go down to 35 Hz and these CDT's go down to 10 Hz.....

 

You should stick to 6x9s for the rear rather than try to cram in a different size. I doubt those CDT's actually go that low and doubt the smaller speaker can put out as much bass as a good 6x9. What is the efficiency rating of the CDT?

 

Congrats on the install - I was encouraged by K6rtm to do the rears and I couldn't be any happier. I also dynomatted the whole rear while I was at it. a little of a PITA but well worth it.

 

Thanks for the writeup! It helped a lot for the fronts. I have the rears but didn't have enough time to put them in today. Thanks!

 

Well, I replaced the rears with some old Pioneer 4-ways. They pretty much suck. I assume they are not getting full range from the hi-fi amp since the factory were component and I only have one connection to these coaxials. I assume there is some low pass filtering going on too from what I've read. I did think ahead and ran power wires to maybe hook up a compact sub later. Now I'm thinking I'll hook it up to these 6x9s. We'll see.

I did the lower doors this evening with 6.5" Polk db6501 component kit. I disconnected the small door speakers thinking I wouldn't need them; loosely based on some advice I seen in this thread. Well, I'm not impressed so far. I ran out of daylight to install the tweeters. I hope they help. There is just no midrange. So...

Any recommendations on 4" replacements? I can't seem to find any that are either not part of a component kit with tweeters or aren't coaxial with tweeters. I don't need any more tweeters! I've looked around Crutchfield and woofersetc.com. Any other good places I should be looking?

 

try this

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards...AT&srchCat=576

 

Hats off to you sir!

 

Most Polk Speakers are made by Vifa if you want to keep things the same just do a search.

 

Any recommendations on 4" replacements? I can't seem to find any that are either not part of a component kit with tweeters or aren't coaxial with tweeters. I don't need any more tweeters! I've looked around Crutchfield and woofersetc.com. Any other good places I should be looking?[/quote]

C'mon.....drink the Kool Aid..
http://www.woofersetc.com/p5622/ES03...id-drivers.htm
then al you need is one of their 3 way crossovers, and you're in bidness. Just so happens that their DRT-25 silk dome tweeters are a snap in fit in the A-posts equiped for tweeters....and they are not supposed to be real bright, ergo tolerable.

Phil

 

With a low pass (LP) crossover you can use any coaxial with tweeters (or even just disconnect the tweeter - cut its wire).
Usually it is recommended to use a fully made 3-way component (such as the focal's used in the first page).

Look at these: Scan speak
For some you can use tweeter adapters.

Other than that I know of hi-ends:

Morel in Woofers Etc (must have cross & amp)
DynAudio in WoofersEtc (must have cross & amp)
Hybrid Audio Legatia (must have cross & amp)

You can also browse all mid ranges in woofers etc for size:
Mids

 

Dont you think 800hz LP is a little too low for a 4" ?

I think the 4" should have a bandpass crossover and be something like
300 to 3.5K(what tweet and midbass would play a big factor in this range as well)

am I missing something with the factory crossover points?


try this one

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=266-140

then you could use a 800hz LP on the midbass

 

Yep, you are right.
Sorry about that.

 

When mixing different brands of speakers make sure their sensitivities are close or you will get a sound imbalance you cannot correct. I note those CDT 3 inchers listed above are only 85 db, you cannot power them with the stock amp. You really need at least 91 db.

 

Looking at your info, that's a nice batch of gear! Got any pics of the install?
Phil

 

Actually my current install is just bad so no point in that.
I'm planning a new install by a professional.

The 5.25" are installed in the front doors with an adapter. Personally I think that the mid-bass in the door near kick panel doesn't suffice enough mid (although it is considered almost the best place for mid). It also require fiber builds (I'll probably move to 7") and a proper sound deadening(dynamat xtreme).

Because of my amp's size my sub will have to be installed later as a regualr box and not stealth.
I'll probably post a new thread for that matter.

The placement of my tweeters in the front doors is only OK, and I'll need to move to a smaller tweeters in the A-Pillars, probably Sinfoni ST-25 (I don't want big stuff in my A-Pillars, I don't even like the little HK tweeters in the A-Pillars).

 

Lots of great replies to my inquiry! Thanks! I'll be sure to review them all. All the varied experience and knowledge here is a truly great thing.

I got the tweeters in last night and decided to do a little experiment. I took the passenger door apart again (getting very fast at this) and hooked up the lower Polk speaker to the mid-door speaker wires. Bam! Some decent freaking sound! The Hi-Fi amp is heavily cutting the frequencies to that lower speaker. The middle speaker is getting a much broader range. It sounds MUCH better now!

I'm trying to decide if I really need the middle speaker now. I think I'll add in a small powered sub and decide after that. All I know is I was a happy camper last night. Except for having to take the drivers mirror control apart again . I think I figured out that I need to remove the mirror control BEFORE trying to pop off the speaker housing. That seems to work much better than the brute force I've been using.